Death row inmate Edmund Zagorski's path to the electric chair sprung from a national debate over lethal injection drugs that shows no sign of waning.

An expert on executions predicted more death row inmates could follow the condemned man’s lead.

Zagorski requested death by electrocution Oct. 8, hours after the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the state's controversial lethal injection cocktail — three drugs medical experts said would lead to an extremely painful death.

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Edmund Zagorski was executed on Nov. 1, 2018 by electric chair. He was convicted of killing two men during a drug deal in 1983 and leaving their bodies in a secluded, wooded area near Interstate 65 in Robertson County. Submitted

Edmund Zagorski leaves the Robertson County Courthouse in Springfield on Feb. 29, 1984, as his trial on two counts of first-degree murder comes to an end for the day. Zagorski is accused of killing John Dale Dodson, 28, a Hickman County logger and Jimmy Porter, 35, a Dickson tavern owner. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Edmund Zagorski leaves the Robertson County Courthouse in Springfield on Feb. 29, 1984, as his trial on two counts of first-degree murder comes to an end for the day. Zagorski was convicted of killing John Dale Dodson, 28, a Hickman County logger and Jimmy Porter, 35, a Dickson tavern owner. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Undated photo of Paula Dyer, who was seven-years-old when she was raped and murdered by Billy Ray Irick in 1985. Irick is on Death Row waiting execution for the crime.Credit: Family photo
Submitted, Family Photo
Undated photo of Paula Dyer, who was seven-years-old when she was raped and murdered by Billy Ray Irick in 1985. Submitted / Family photo

Billy Ray Irick, on death row for raping and killing 7-year-old Paula Dyer, was in a Knox County Criminal Court Monday, Aug. 16, 2010 arguing that he's too mentally ill to be executed by the state. Irick was convicted in 1985 for murdering the Knoxville girl he had been baby-sitting. Michael Patrick/File/News Sentinel

Angie Kliebert heard the news the day Paula K. Dyer was killed and wanted to bring a small flower for her grave at Glenwood Cemetery Wednesday, August 8, 2018. Dyer was raped and murdered by Billy Ray Irick. Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

Rae Tennent comforts Anna Reside, left, during a protest against the execution at Fisk University Memorial Chapel on Thursday, August 9, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. Billy Ray Irick, who was convicted in the 1986 rape and murder of a seven-year-old Knox County girl, was scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday night. Mark Zaleski/ For the Tennessean

Fr. John Boylan of Christ the Prophet Church in Spring Hill, Tenn, holds a candle as protesters gather outside of the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution against the execution of Billy Ray Irick in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018. Irick, 59, was convicted in 1986 on charges of raping and murdering Paula Dyer, a 7-year-old Knox County girl. Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe, center, smiles at the cameras a few times during his mental competency hearing in Memphis as court officers stand close by Jan. 24, 2000. Attorney Mark Olive of Tallahassee, right, is working with the defense in this hearing. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

The first witness for the defense was Dr. James R. Merikangas a expert witness in Neurology and Psychiatry from Connecticut, during the hearing to determine Robert Glen Coe's mental competency in Memphis Jan. 24, 2000. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe was very distracting to the court during a hearing to show if he is mentally competent to be executed Jan. 24, 2000. Several times he called the judge names and showed him the finger. He also tap his hands on the chair loudly during most of the hearing. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Charlotte Stout, mother of the victim, leans her head on her husband Mickey Stout's shoulder and listens as the defense questions a witness in the second day Robert Glen Coe hearing in Memphis Jan. 25, 2000. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe is surrounded by the defense team just before the prosecutors next witness, Charlotte Stout, the mother of the victim Jan. 25, 2000. The defense attorneys are (Robert Hutton, left, Jim Walker and Mark Olive. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Charlotte Stout, mother of the victim, reads a letter which she wrote to Robert Glen Coe while he was in prison during the mental competency hearing in Memphis Jan. 25, 2000. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe sits in the hearing in his own little world while a defense attorney questions a witness in trying to determine Coe's inability to be competent for execution Jan. 25, 2000. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Condemned killer Robert Glen Coe yells through his gag while his attorneys argue that he is incompetent to be executed in court Jan. 26, 2000 in Memphis. Two gags failed to stop Coe from screaming so many obscenities at the sanity hearing that he was hauled from the courtroom. A.j. Wolfe, A.J. Wolfe / The Commercial Appeal / AP Photo

Attorney General Paul Summers, left, is flanked by Solicitor General Michael Moore as he announces to media representatives that the executions of Robert Glen Coe and Philip Workman have been stayed April 4, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Joyce V. Judge, executive director of NAMI Tennessee, holds up a list of psychotropic medications that she says show Robert Glen Coe has suffered for many years with severe mental illness as she makes a plea to Governor Don Sundquist to commute Coe's death sentance to life without parole during a press conference April 14, 2000. Nina Long / The Tennessean

Harmon Wray is grabbed by two officers and is one of 19 protesters arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol officers in front of the executive residence of Gov. Don Sundquist April 18, 2000. The group, made most of Vanderbilt Divinity students and others, were protesting capital punishment and the execution of convicted child-killer Robert Glen Coe. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Tom Kimmel is one of 19 protesters arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol officers in front of the executive residence of Gov. Don Sundquist April 18, 2000. The group, made most of Vanderbilt Divinity students and others, were protesting capital punishment and the execution of convicted child-killer Robert Glen Coe. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Abraham Bonowitz, who from a citizens group in Florida, is one of 19 protesters arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol officers in front of the executive residence of Gov. Don Sundquist April 18, 2000. The group, made most of Vanderbilt Divinity students and others, were protesting capital punishment and the execution of convicted child-killer Robert Glen Coe. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

A death penalty protester sign rest on the wall in front of the executive residence of Gov. Don Sundquist April 18, 2000. Nineteen protesters were arrested by Tennessee Highway Patrol officers. The group, made most of Vanderbilt Divinity students and others, were protesting capital punishment and the execution of convicted child-killer Robert Glen Coe. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Father Michael Johnston, left, and Alvin Haas put a cross in place in front of St. Henry's Church on Harding Road April 18, 2000. The cross along with the sign were then covered from view. They will be unveil by Father Johnston and the associate Father John Sappenfield at 1:00 am on Wed just after they learn that the State carried out the execution of Robert Glen Coe. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

A group of television reporters are interviewing Coalition United Against the Death Penalty director Abe Bonowitz, right, in front of Belmont United Methodist Church April 18, 2000 before an anti-death penalty vigil. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Robert Glen Coe's sister, front left, mitigation specialist Ann Charvat, center, Coe's brother, right, and other supporters make their way into Belmont United Methodist Church for a anti-death penalty vigil April 18, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

One of only a handful of death penalty advocates at Riverbend April 18, 2000, Virgil Spence, left, is interviewed by AP reporter Amber Austin. "They're wolves in sheeps' clothing," Spence said of those gathered opposite the fence from him in opposition to the penalty. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Brock Mitchel Slentz holds a candle in silent vigil against the death penalty during the minutes before Robert Glen Coe was executed by the state of Tennessee for the murder and rape of Cary Ann Medlin April 19, 2000. George Walker IV / The Tennessea

Members of the Robert Glenn Coe family leave the Riverbend Maximum Security correctional facility leave after witnessing Coe executed for the crimes of murder and rape to Cary Ann Medlin April 19, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Charlotte Ann Stout, center, mother of Carey Medlin, leaves the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Robert Glen Coe April 19, 2000. She is accompanied by RMSI P.I.O. Steve Hayes, left, family members and corrections officers. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Ruth Ventrice, Kenneth Odom and Liz Sodergren, opponents to the death penalty hold each other after it was announce that Robert Glen Coe was pronounce dead by lethal injection April 19, 2000. George Walker IV / The Tennessea

Attorney General Paul Summers addresses the media in the foggy, early-morning darkness following the execution of Robert Glen Coe at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution April 19, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Attorney General Paul Summers addresses the media in the foggy, early-morning darkness following the execution of Robert Glen Coe at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution April 19, 2000. Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

Dr. Bruce Levy, the Metro Medical Examiner that performed the autopsy on Robert Glen Coe despite objections by the dead man's attorneys, reviews his reports again Sept. 29, 2000. Levy and his state and Metro attorneys concluded that he had jurisdiction because Coe's death was a homicide and occurred inside a state prison. Randy Piland / The Tennessean

Jimmy Coe, of Atwood, Tenn, brother of Robert Glen Coe, who was executed on Apr. 19, 2000, wipes tears before watching a film made by Dixie Gamble about Robert Coe's mental illness during the NCADP National Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville Oct. 18, 2003. Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean

People watch a film made by Dixie Gamble about the mental illness of Robert Glen Coe, who was executed on Apr. 19, 2000, during the NCADP National Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville Oct. 18, 2003. Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean

Attorney Barry Scheck holds a chart of the DNA Testing Scenarios in front of family members of victim Suzanne Collins during the clemency hearing for Sedley Alley at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution May 15, 2006. Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean

Chairman Charles Traughber, left, talks with defense attorneys next to board member Patsy Bruce during the clemency hearing for Sedley Alley at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution May 15, 2006. The board members voted 4-3 to recommend the Governor for the DNA test in Alley's case. Jae S. Lee / The Tennessean

With Riverbend Maximum Security Institution looming in the background, Anti-death penalty activist Donna Williard sits away from the crowd and contemplates the fate of Sedley Alley June 27, 2006. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Matthew Bond, left, and Kathy Masulis of Nashville part take in a candlelight vigil at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution June 28, 2006. The group was protesting against the death penalty shortly before the execution of Sedley Alley. Jonathan D. Woods / The Tennesse

A group protesting against the death penalty keeps up with news updates via a small television receiver at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution June 28, 2006, shortly before the announcement of Sedley Alley's execution. Jonathan D. Woods / The Tennesse

Protestors against the death penalty walk to their vehicles after receiving the news that Sedley Alley had been executed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution June 28, 2006. Jonathan D. Woods / The Tennesse

Gary Holton, center, uncle of alleged killer Daryl Holton and Keisha Leverette, right, cousin of Daryl Holton, talk with police near the front of the building where he killed his four children Nov. 30, 1997 in Shelbyville, Tenn. D. Patrick Harding / For The Ten

Daryl Holton, center, is led out of the Shelbyville Police Department by detectives Pat Mathis, left, and Lt. Chris Szaroleta Nov. 30, 1997 in Shelbyville, Tenn., after he turned himself in for the killings of his three young sons and a little girl his ex-wife had with another man. Police said Holton told them he shot and killed the children, ages four to 13, because he was afraid he would never gain custody of them. Bo Melson / Shelbyville Times-Ga

Rev. Stacy Rector, left, Michael Kelsh and Tom Kimmel sing at a vigil against the execution of Daryl Holton outside of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Sept. 11, 2007, in Nashville. Holton confessed to killing his three young sons and their half-sister with an assault rifle Nov. 30, 1997 and is scheduled to be electrocuted early Wednesday, Sept. 12. Mark Humphrey / AP Photo

The Reverend Stacy Rector, right, sings at a Service of Remembrance and Resistance in honor of Daryl Holton in Nashville Sept. 11, 2007. Rector is Executive Director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing (TCASK). Shauna Bittle / The Tennessean

Hector Black of Cookeville, Tenn., speaks about the murder of his daughter seven years ago during the service for Daryl Holton at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville Sept. 11, 2007. Black read John Donne's Meditation XVII, "No Man is an Island," in support of his opposition to the death penalty. Shauna Bittle / The Tennessean

Field Organizer Isaac Kimes makes a call at The Tennessee Coalition Against State Killing office where supporters are running a phone bank Feb. 2, 2009 to gather support for postponing/protesting the scheduled execution of Steve Henley Feb. 4. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tenness

Field Organizer Isaac Kimes makes a call at The Tennessee Coalition Against State Killing office where supporters are running a phone bank Feb. 2, 2009 to gather support for postponing/protesting the scheduled execution of Steve Henley Feb. 4. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

Family members of Steve Henley, who is scheduled to be executed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at 1:00 a.m., pray at the Brookmeade Congregational Church during a prayer service Feb 3, 2009. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

A prayer service was held at the Brookmeade Congregational Church for Steve Henley who is scheduled to be executed at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at 1:00 a.m. Feb 3, 2009. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

With the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution's lights behind her, Julia Thorne tries to keep warm as she and other demonstrators waited on the prison grounds protesting the execution of Steve Henley Feb. 4, 2009. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Priscilla Coe, left, and Amy Sayward pray during a candlelight vigil at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for Steve Henley who was executed at the facility Feb. 4, 2009. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Greg Henley and his sister Leanne make a statement to the press Feb. 4, 2009, after the execution of their father, Steve Henley. Greg Henley said that his family forgives the state for executing an innocent man. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Geoff Little, center, prays during a service Dec. 1, 2009 at the Hobson United Methodist Church in East Nashville held in honor of Cecil Johnson Jr., who was scheduled to be executed sometime after midnight. At left is Andrew Krinks. Alan Poizner / For The Tennessea

Karen Rybolt, far right, participates in a candlelight vigil outside the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville prior to the execution of Cecil Johnson in the early morning of Dec. 2, 2009. Alan Poizner / For The Tennessea

Death penatly opponents hold a candle-light vigil outside the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution prior to the execution of Cecil Johnson in the early morning of Dec. 2, 2009. Alan Poizner / For The Tennessea

It is a provocative move — the electric chair hasn't been used in Tennessee in 11 years, and no other state has used it since 2013.

“It tells us a lot about the failures of lethal injection as a method of execution that a prisoner would opt for what he considers to be a half minute of torture instead of what he considers to be 18 minutes of torture," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that collects execution statistics.

But Zagorski isn't alone. He's part of a growing national trend.

Eight death row inmates in Alabama in July asked to die in the gas chamber rather than via lethal injection. A Missouri inmate whose case has traveled up to the U.S. Supreme Court made the same choice. Tennessee does not have that option for execution.

In each case, the inmates said they did not want to be tortured to death for several minutes by a lethal injection.

Alabama and Missouri both use lethal injection cocktails that include the sedative midazolam. So does Tennessee. Experts say midazolam fails to render inmates completely unconscious while painful poison courses through their veins.

Dunham said the growing prevalence of midazolam-based protocols all but ensures more inmates will choose other options when they can, even if they seem more gruesome in comparison.

"I think we’ll be seeing more of this," Dunham said. "It really tells us about the state of the death penalty in the United States."

David Raybin, a Nashville defense attorney who witnessed the last electric chair execution in 2007, agreed.

"I think that more prisoners will exercise the electric chair so as to avoid the possible torture of the injection," Raybin wrote in an email. "I also think some may do so as a more dramatic protest to the penalty."

Trend stems from U.S. Supreme Court's 'macabre requirements'

Dunham's organization does not take a stand for or against the death penalty, but he questioned some aspects of its implementation. He said the spate of inmates rejecting lethal injections is the "direct byproduct of the Supreme Court's macabre requirements" surrounding legal challenges, set in the decision in Glossip v. Gross.

It is not enough for inmates challenging a particular drug to prove lethal injection leads to torture, which is barred by the U.S. Constitution. The high court also requires inmates to find a readily available alternative to the drugs.

Kevin Burns was given the death sentence in the 1992 murder of Damond Dawson, 17, and a life sentence for killing Tracey Johnson, 23. The two were murdered as they sat in a car in Dawson's driveway after being robbed of money and jewelry. Burns was 23 at the time. Submitted

Tony Carruthers and accomplice James Montgomery were convicted of kidnapping drug dealer Marcellos Anderson, 21, his mother and one of Anderson's teenage associates in 1994. The two male victims were shot, and then they and Anderson's mother were all buried alive in a grave that had been dug for a funeral in Memphis' Rose Hill Cemetery, according to testimony during Carruthers' and Montgomery's trial in 1996. Submitted

Preston Carter was sentenced to death in 1995 for fatally shooting Tensia and Thomas Jackson Jr. after breaking into their home. The couple's blood-spattered 3-year-old daughter was found unharmed beside her father's body. Submitted

Lemaricus Davidson, a Memphis native, was sentenced to death in October 2009 for torturing and killing a young couple in Knox County. The victims, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, were on a date in 2007 when they were carjacked by several armed men, including Davidson. Submitted

Leroy Hall was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and aggravated arson for the death of his ex-girlfriend in 1991. Hall threw gasoline on Traci Crozier, 22, as she sat in her automobile and then set her on fire. Crozier suffered third-degree burns to more than 90 percent of her body and died hours later. Submitted

William Hall, pictured, and Derrick Quintero were convicted of the 1988 slayings of an elderly Stewart County couple in their home. The murders were committed after Quintero and Hall escaped from a Kentucky prison. Submitted

James Hawkins Jr. was convicted in the 2008 stabbing and strangulation of his girlfriend, Charlene Gaither. According to court testimony, Hawkins forced their 12-year-old daughter to help him dismember her mother's body with an electric circular saw. Gaither's head was never recovered. Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal

Kennath Henderson killed Fayette County Deputy Tommy Bishop, 43, by shooting him through the back of the head at point-blank range during an attempted escape from the Fayette County Jail in 1997. Submitted

Henry Hodges was convicted of the May 1991 strangulation and robbery of Nashville phone repairman Ronald Bassett. He received another life sentence in December 1992 after pleading guilty in the 1989 stabbing death of Inglewood nurse Barry McDonald. Submitted

Stephen Hugueley was sentenced to death in 2003 for stabbing a prison counselor at Hardeman County Correctional Center. He used a homemade knife, stabbing him 36 times until the knife broke. Hugueley had killed before: his mother in 1986 and then a prison inmate in 1992. He tried to take the life of another prisoner in 1998. Submitted

James Jones, also known as Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, was convicted for his part in a 1986 raid on a drug dealer's house in Nashville. He stormed inside with his friend DeValle Miller. The residents were bound with duct tape. Patrick Daniels lay dead afterward with multiple stab wounds. His girlfriend, Norma Jean Norman, survived, even though one of her attackers left a butcher knife in her back. Her two young daughters had huddled in a back bedroom until the attack was over. Submitted

David Jordan was convicted in a 2005 shooting rampage at a state maintenance garage in West Tennessee that killed his estranged wife, Donna Renee Jordan, and two other people — David Gordon, a delivery company worker from Jackson, and Jerry Wayne Hopper, a Forestry Department employee who was having work done on his state vehicle. Submitted

Donald Middlebrooks was convicted of torturing and murdering 14-year-old Kerrick Majors in 1987. The teen was beaten, stabbed, choked, raped and slashed. His body was found in a dry creek bed in East Nashville. Submitted

Farris Morris was convicted in Madison County in 1997 of the murders of Charles Ragland and his 15-year-old niece Erica Hurd and the rape of Ragland's wife, Angela, in the Raglands' Jackson home. Submitted

Clarence Nesbitt was convicted in the 1993 Memphis shooting death of Miriam M. Cannon, 20. Cannon had burn marks and brands on her body, and she appeared to have been beaten on the soles of the feet with a coat hanger or a similar object. Submitted

Harold Nichols is on death row for raping and murdering 21-year-old Karen Pulley in 1988. According to court records, he hit her on the head with a board at least four times, causing skull fractures and brain injuries. Submitted

Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee's death row, was convicted in the 1995 torture death of fellow Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer, 19. She and two other Job Corps students lured Slemmer to a secluded spot on the University of Tennessee agricultural campus. For the next 30 minutes to an hour, Slemmer begged for her life while she was taunted and beaten, trial testimony showed. Her throat was repeatedly slashed. A pentagram was carved on her chest. Her skull was bashed in with a rock, and Pike kept a piece of it as a trophy, testimony revealed. Submitted

Gerald Powers was convicted of killing Shannon Sanderson, 25, the mother of three young children. She was abducted in Memphis and killed shortly after winning $5,000 playing blackjack at Sam's Town casino in Tunica, Miss. Authorities said Powers spotted Sanderson at the casino and followed her when she left. Submitted

Derrick Quintero, pictured, and William Hall were convicted of the 1988 slayings of an elderly Stewart County couple in their home. The murders were committed after Quintero and Hall escaped from a Kentucky prison. Submitted

Michael Rimmer was convicted of abducting and killing his ex-girlfriend, Ricci Lynn Ellsworth, 45, in 1997. Ellsworth disappeared from a Memphis motel where she was employed as a night clerk. Her blood was found in a motel office and money was missing from a cash register. Rimmer had just spent seven years in prison for raping Ellsworth; she went missing five months after his release. Submitted

Gregory Robinson was convicted of ordering a Memphis gang to kill Vernon Green, an innocent bystander in an argument between two rival gangs, in 1997. According to court documents, Robinson told gang members, "y'all know what to do" with Green and "take him fishing." Green was taken to a park where he was beaten and shot repeatedly, police records show. Submitted

Oscar Frank Smith was sentenced to death by a Davidson County jury in 1990 for the murders of his estranged wife, Judy Robirds Smith, and her sons, Jason and Chad Burnett, 13 and 16. Evidence presented at Smith's trial included a recording of a 911 call, in which the boys cried out "Frank, no! God help me!" A bloody handprint, identified as Smith's, was found on the bedsheet next to his wife's body. Submitted

Jonathan Stephenson was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his wife, Lisa, who was shot in the head with a high-powered rifle in Cocke County in 1989. Stephenson and the hired hit man, Ralph Thompson, disputed which one of them fired the fatal shot, but both were convicted in separate trials. Submitted

Dennis Suttles was convicted of chasing down his former girlfriend, Patricia Gail Rhodes, 44, in a Taco Bell parking lot in South Knoxville in 1996, then stabbing and slashing her to death in front of her 15-year-old daughter. Submitted

Nicholas Sutton was sentenced to die in the 1985 stabbing death of a fellow inmate at the Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility. He and another man stabbed inmate Carl Estep 38 times. Witnesses said Estep, who was imprisoned for child molestation, had sold the two inmates bad drugs. Submitted

Heck Van Tran had worked at the Jade East Restaurant in Memphis for a few weeks before he joined three other young men in robbing the restaurant in 1987. He admitted shooting two of the three employees who were killed in the robbery. Submitted

Stephen West was given the death penalty in 1987 for the fatal stabbing of Wanda Romines and her 15-year-old daughter, Sheila, in Union County. Forensic evidence showed that Sheila Romines was raped and that both victims had "torture-type" wounds. Submitted

As a result of that standard, Tennessee’s Supreme Court rejected the lethal injection challenge here because they found the inmates, including Zagorski, hadn’t pointed to another cocktail of drugs the state could purchase.

The justices did not even consider if midazolam led to torture.

Christopher Slobogin, the director of the criminal justice program at the Vanderbilt University law school, said the perils of the midazolam protocol are well established.

"We’ve seen a number of cases in which a lethal injection was botched or appeared to cause serious pain," Slobogin said in an email. "The gas chamber, even the firing squad, might be preferable to many individuals, if they have the choice. But apparently the courts aren’t concerned enough about the pain to declare use of the current lethal injection cocktail cruel and unusual."

'States had a good reason to move away from' electrocution

States shifted away from the electric chair in recent years. The high courts in Nebraska and Georgia have ruled the method unconstitutional.

Tennessee's primary method of execution is lethal injection. Only inmates convicted for crimes before 1999 can voluntarily choose electrocution instead.

“States had a good reason to move away from" electrocution, Dunham said.

For one, it creates a more disturbing image. Inmates are strapped down into the chair with a shroud over their face and their bodies can appear to push against the restraints as electricity courses through them. First- and second-degree burns are common.

Botched electrocutions can be even more disturbing, with smoke, spouts of blood and the smell of singeing hair possible.

“He and his lawyers genuinely believe that he would be suffocated and chemically burned at the stake over a period of more than 15 minutes if they chose lethal injection," Dunham said. “It’s astonishing that we’ve come to this."

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.